Buy local? Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn

The recently-elected new Kiwi government, including the classical liberal ACT New Zealand, have scrapped their ‘Buy New Zealand‘ campaign to promote buying local produce:

The suspension of the Buy New Zealand Made campaign by the new Government has saddened one of the policy’s architects, Green MP Sue Bradford. Minister of Economic Development Gerry Brownlee said yesterday that no more money would be committed to the campaign, unless a review showed it to be effective.

Boo hoo.  Whereas the Greens may be sad for their own unfathomable reasons (it’s no doubt related to hemp, but not in a cool way), I couldn’t be happier.

If you ask people their preferences for buying produce, everyone always says that they want to buy local.  The more local the produce the better, until the thought of a turnip grown in one’s garden is as exciting as the thought of Jessica Alba in one’s bed.

The truth is very far from that: as illustrated by recent research into the scheme.  And I’ll bet my bottom New Zealand dollar that the same result would be replicated here.  Actually, most people want good quality produce at a low price.  For students, low price is pretty much the only criterion.  For those that do have a choice, buying as much of a good product as possible as cheaply as possible, they can take more time off work, lead happier lives, and conserve more resources (so good news for our crying Green friends!).

But capitalism isn’t about forcing people to value low price above everything else, just as it isn’t about forcing people to value anything over anything else.  People aren’t forced to work a certain job or purchase a certain product.  People aren’t forced to think or act a certain way.  People aren’t forced to be selfish or charitable.  And people aren’t forced to buy the cheapest or the most local.  Capitalism is the freedom to choose between those and a thousand other values, too.

Campaigns like Buy New Zealand are plentiful in the UK and every other supposedly capitalist country in the world.*  However, their existence - making taxpayers fund a misguided attempt to force people value something that they wouldn’t otherwise - is an affront to the basic principles of capitalism: and the very soul of our freedom to set our own values and live our own lives.

Bye, bye, Buy New Zealand.  Noone will miss you.

* Am I the only one that thinks the EU-funded “Scotch Beef: Great Quality of Life, Great Quality of Taste” ad that adorns the Tube was written by a thirteen-year-old on work experience?